


Lusus Naturae

by Fether



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, M/M, Slow Burn, So much angst, Sorry Not Sorry, cryptid AU, i write long chapters, you're going to scream at me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-08-19 14:31:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16536407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fether/pseuds/Fether
Summary: Lusus Naturae: noun -- a deformed person or thing; freak. First recorded in 1655–65, lusus naturae is from the Latin word lūsus nātūrae a jest of nature.In an alternate universe, the paladins are not humans -- they are creatures of folklore, hidden in the folds of the human world and trying to survive alongside of them. One creature in particular finds an old friend, and saving him sets of a series of events that no one is prepared for...





	Lusus Naturae

**Author's Note:**

> Because all good stories begin in taverns, right? ... right?

Rain danced against the town’s stone pathway as the black-haired man walked through it, completely undeterred by the weather. Pulling his shawl tighter around his shoulders, he glanced up at the sky with relief, closing his eyes for a moment against the water, letting it plaster against his face with a contented sigh.

He only ever visited town when it was raining, finding that any days but rain too tedious to travel through. The water was a blessing, allowing him to leave the nearby ocean and travel to the places he needed to go. It felt strange to leave his home, but he had to keep in mind that where he grew up wasn’t really his home, despite how much he wanted it to be.

“I never understood why you prefer getting soaked in the rain,” came a voice to his side, and the man turned to regard him with a raised eyebrow. He gave him a look, taking in the slimmer man, seeing that he was attempting to keep the rain off of him with a measly hood. “My  _ wings _ are getting wet!”

“… who even are you?” he queried, making the other man huff a few times in an indignant manner.

“Uh,  _ hello? _ I’m  _ Lance _ ? Your  _ rival _ ? You know, Keith, for a seal you have a pretty poor memory—”

“I’m not a seal,” Keith corrected, making a face at the other as he continued to walk, stepping through the middle of a deep puddle. Lance stared at him and made a face at his retreating form, scurrying around the puddle as quickly as he could manage without the help of his waterlogged wings. “I’m a selkie.”

“Selkie, seal, same difference.”

“Why are you even  _ here _ ?” Keith asked, turning to stare at the other with an incredulous expression, becoming annoyed by the rude interruption. This guy just wouldn’t  _ leave _ .

“Well, I—” Lance sputtered, going quiet as he ducked his head down, crossing his arms over his stomach. “... I don’t have anyone else.”

“So you chose the most solitary person to hang out with? Are you  _ daft _ ?”

“We’ve talked before! Don’t you remember?”

“No.”

“How can you not remember!? We  _ bonded! _ ” Rolling his eyes, Keith kept walking, shaking his head as he turned the corner and stepped into the nearby tavern, stumbling when he felt wet arms wrap around  _ his _ .

“What are you doing?” he hissed, glancing over to Lance. Lance was looking around warily, eyes wide as he clung to the other, not at all dissuaded by him.

“Why are you visiting  _ here _ ? There’s humans here!” Lance hissed, eyes wide as his gaze shifted to regard Keith with alarm.

“Humans with information,” Keith corrected, shrugging Lance off of him as he moved toward an unoccupied table in the corner. “In case you haven’t noticed,  _ we _ look human too, all things considered.” Lance made a rather undignified sound in reply to that, shaking his head as he shivered under his wet hood, moving to join Keith at the table.

“... do you have any spare change?”

“No.” Keith leveled his gaze at him, pressing his lips together unhappily. “Stop trying to mooch off of me.”

“But I’m hungry.”

“Don’t you have faerie food to nibble on or something?”

“We don’t eat  _ nibbles _ of things, that’s racist —”

“So is calling me a  _ seal _ .” Keith stared at Lance, making the faerie shut up, indignant and sulking. Rolling his eyes, Keith leaned back in his chair and started to listen, fingers silently tapping the table while the faerie across from him fidgeted. There wasn’t much to listen to; he found the lull of chatter dull and dreary, and uninteresting as a whole.

After a time, Keith began to doze off until the door slammed open to allow two humans inside, carrying between them a rather feral looking man. His hands were bound behind his back, and he looked like he’d been beaten to the point of unconsciousness. Keith’s head snapped up, alarm ringing in his head as he realized he had been about to fall asleep, his hands gripping the top of the chair tightly.

“Shiro,” Lance whispered, making Keith’s eyes dart towards him, and then back to the commotion. How did this annoying faerie know  _ Shiro? _

“Make room,” came the gruff words from one of the humans, and a couple of tables were cleared so the men could drop him unceremoniously onto one of them, holding him down by the shoulders. The man with black and white hair roused just a bit, his hand raising to grip onto one of the offender’s arms.

Letting out a cry of alarm, the man jerked away from Shiro, not wanting his arm to be broken by the metal monstrosity that made up the entirety of his arm. Keith stared, not quite understanding what was going on, but he didn’t want to stand idly by and watch something  _ bad _ happen to Shiro. He stood up, about to intervene, but stopped cold when he saw  _ Lance _ approaching them.

Oh,  _ no _ .

“Hey!” Lance cried, thankfully keeping his hood on as he approached the men. “What do you think you’re doing!?”

“He’s a  _ weyr _ ,” the other man stated, his tone gruff as he bared his teeth at Lance. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay away.”

“He’s my  _ friend _ ,” Lance hissed back, stepping forward again, about to get into the man’s face. Keith intervened just in time, reaching out and pulling Lance back before the man could shove him aside, swinging on nothing but air.

 

“Has he done something wrong?” Keith asked, shoulders hunched in a defensive manner as he eyed the two men, and then slowly looked around the room to see that all eyes were on him... and Lance.

“Found him covered in blood among my livestock. They were fine breedin’, all  _ gone _ now thanks to your friend.” The man’s steely eyes were on Lance now, and Lance, to his credit, didn’t back down at all. Keith was more wary, however, his grip tightening on Lance’s shoulder as he pulled him towards the door.

“Our mistake.” Keith said softly, bowing his head as he pulled Lance through the door with him. “Sorry to bother.”

“Hey!!” Lance cried, but shut up instantly when Keith clapped a hand over his mouth, dragging him around the tavern and glaring at him with renewed anger.

“Don’t be stupid. Do you really think we can take them on with just  _ us? _ Don’t answer that.” Shoving Lance to the ground, Keith crossed his arms and glanced up at the rain, making a face at the clouds and hoping that they’d stay. “We’ll rescue him at nightfall. Less people then, and an easier getaway.”

“I don’t like waiting,” Lance whined, standing up from the mud beneath him and gagging as he tried to scrape the mud off of his clothing, looking downright miserable. Keith would have felt sorry for him, if the guy wasn’t so damn annoying.

“Do you have any better ideas?” Lance just gave him a look, slouching in defeat as he turned away from the other and moving under the rafters so the rain wouldn’t soak through any more than it already had.

“That’s what I thought.” Finding a tree stump to sit on out in the rain, Keith drew his legs up and wrapped his arms around them, keeping an intent eye on the tavern’s doors.

No one came out for hours.

Glancing over to the faerie determined that he had fallen asleep, which suited Keith just fine; he’d rather deal with quiet than constant chatter any day.

Sitting up further once the lights went off in the tavern, Keith slowly slid off of the stump, heading towards the barn without rousing Lance, not bothering with the annoying faerie.

The nearby barn was the best place to go, and Keith checked there first, biting his lip in dismay when he saw Shiro hanging by his arms from the rafters, blood caked on his body from where something had bitten into his skin many, many times.

“Shiro...” Keith said softly. He moved over to undo the ropes that kept him tied, eyes glimmering with tears that he refused to let fall. Once he’d gotten both ropes undone, he coiled underneath of Shiro to support the entirety of his weight, letting out a soft breath as he positioned himself to carry the man out of the barn.

Shiro’s feet dragged against the dirt, and Keith inwardly swore to himself. The sound was far too loud despite being barely heard, and the selkie kept jerking his head to the side, glancing around for anyone that may have followed. There was a sudden sound to his right, on the other side of Shiro that he couldn’t see, and he nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw two arms grab Shiro’s non-mechanical arm, grasping it tightly.

“No no no, you don’t get to be the  _ only _ one to save him. I’m helping.” Lance said as he moved under Shiro’s other side to help carry him. Keith glanced around in alarm to make sure no one else saw, before his gaze settled on the faerie with a disgusted look.

“Don’t give me that look.  _ You’re _ the one who left me alone on that stump after I fell asleep. This is all on you.” Clicking his tongue against his teeth in an unhappy manner, Lance shook his head and focused on carrying his weight, only making slight sounds of discomfort whenever Shiro’s hand grazed across his back.

The sound of dogs were heard in the distance, and Keith froze, turning to see lights flickering on in the houses. It was apparent that they’d found out that Shiro was gone, so the next obvious step was searching for their prize.

The thought made Keith’s lips curl. This was a town that had been somewhat decent to him, but had recently gone downhill due to the bounty hunters trying to collect rewards on random bounties.

“It’s sickening, isn’t it?” Lance commented, shaking Keith out of his thoughts. “Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be human. They can choose to live by the rules they make, or break them.” Lance adjusted Shiro’s weight on his shoulders, then pulled a particular direction.

“This way,” Lance spoke, his expression holding elements of determination in it, as well as twinges of fear. Keith turned with Lance, biting back any salty comments to better assist Shiro. He glanced up and looked at his passive face, serene only due to the fact that he was passed out from prolonged exposure to abuse.

It made Keith’s heart sink.

His skin chilled when he heard a few dog yips bark much closer to them than it had been before, and he stopped once he saw a rather large river to cross, an idea forming in his head.

“We need to cross the water to throw off the scent.” Keith spoke, his voice urgent. Lance’s head snapped to stare at Keith as he also halted in place, his eyes wide with alarm. He started to speak, but only ended up making a few unintelligible sounds in response before he exhaled.

Keith was right, but he didn’t have to like it.

“You take him. I’ll meet you on the other side.” Lance let go of Shiro, glancing back to watch Keith slowly submerge halfway into the water, carrying Shiro with him. He found the right buoyancy, thanks to being a selkie, and it wasn’t long at all before he made it to the other side with Shiro, taking care to keep his head above water.

With every step Keith took into the water, Lance was pulling  _ away _ from it, but Keith didn’t concern himself with the why at the moment -- he was focused on getting Shiro to  _ safety _ .

“C’mon, Shiro… don’t give up on me now.” Keith said softly, easing the man up onto the bank as he glanced around. Lance was gone, much to his relief, but he wasn’t sure  _ where _ he’d gone.

He heard dogs in the distance, and shouts of human voices, but they were further away than he’d remembered. Despite that easing him some, he rested next to the other for a moment, attempting to catch his breath as he reached out and felt for a pulse.

There was no pulse.

Panic washed over Keith like a cold tide, and he patted Keith’s cheek gently, trying to get him to wake up. When he didn’t respond, the selkie moved to sit him up, patting his back in a thorough manner, eyes wide with alarm.

“Shiro,  _ please _ …” He closed his eyes, tilting Shiro forward and shaking him without roughing him up too much, attempting to put some life into him as best he could. Keith didn’t know what to  _ do _ , and this was the only available option to him that he knew about.

“I  _ told _ you I heard a voice from over here!” Came a lilted tone, and Keith tensed as he glanced up, glaring at two new figures that came into view. The first was a tall, broad humanoid looking man save for the dark brown hair sticking out from every direction over almost every inch of skin, his tall stature making his partner look almost dwarfish. The second had reddish-brown fur, with ears half the length of his body, and spectacles that sat on the edge of his nose. The ears reminded Keith of a rabbit’s, but they were much slimmer and less  _ floppy _ . Standing up, they bent inward at an angle in the middle of the ear, giving the creature a rather unique look.

“You’re right. But what’s it doing in our area?” The bigger one asked, crossing his arms as he glanced to the rabbit-like creature.

“Please.” Keith grasped Shiro’s arm, stress making him short of breath. “He’s not breathing, he’s my  _ friend _ \--”

“He’s a human.” Came the second creature’s voice as he crossed his arms, not looking too impressed with the situation.

“Pidge…”

“I’m not doing it, Hunk. The last so called ‘ _ friend’ _ of yours I helped ended up double-crossing us and leaving us in the ditch.”

“But he looks so lonely!” The larger hairy ‘Hunk’ gave large, begging doe eyes to the one called ‘Pidge’, and Pidge looked away with a huff.

“I’ll do anything.” Keith begged. “Just... please.  _ Save him _ .”

“... anything?” Pidge asked, reaching up to push his glasses up on his furry nose. At Keith’s nod, he moved forward, crouching beside Shiro as he reached forward to press his fingers against the human’s skin. “No taking it back, now.”

“I promised.” Keith said softly, holding onto Shiro’s hand tightly. “A promise from a selkie is worth its weight in gold.”

Pidge stopped, turning to stare at Keith with wide eyes. “... this human really means that much to you?”

“Yes. He does.” Pidge’s eyes glittered.

“Would you bet your pelt on that?” At the question, Keith’s breath caught in his throat, and his grip tightened on Shiro’s hand. It took him a longer moment to answer, but he found his voice, echoing his desire despite how much his tone shook.

“ _ Yes _ .”

“I’ll do what I can.” Pidge said, and moved to sit down as he began to work, his ears flickering forward as he listened for a heartbeat.

“I’ll go find some food.” Hunk added, giving a gentle smile to Keith before he lumbered off, disappearing into the woods.

Magic flowed from Pidge’s fingertips, warmth coloring Shiro’s skin back to the normal hue Keith was used to. After a time, the selkie found that he was holding his breath more than what was necessary, but refused to leave the man’s side.

He was relieved to find, after a time, that his chest slowly rose and fell as he began to breathe again, and his free hand clutched his pelt to his shoulders as realization settled into his mind.

Keith had bet his selkie pelt for Shiro’s life.

He bet the only thing that truly meant something to him, for something else that meant the same amount. After searching Shiro’s face, he turned to Pidge, finding his eyes settled on him with a keen interest that made his heart drop.

In silence, Pidge held out his hand. It took Keith a few long seconds, but he finally let go of Shiro’s hand and moved to pull his pelt off, handing it over as a soft, unbidden wail echoed from his throat.

Keith couldn’t look at Pidge anymore. He turned and curled into Shiro’s unconscious form, head resting on the man’s chest as relief flooded through his body that the man was  _ alive _ . Nothing else mattered now.

Listening to Shiro’s heartbeat was the only solace that Keith had left.


End file.
